it's interesting to me that whilst a piece of work may tell a story I am usually most interested in the story of how the work itself was made
thinking that might be of interest to some of you as well... this is how something I made a few weeks back came to be
it begins with a photo of the side of the Klondike River Boat in Whitehorse taken last March
cropped slightly, contrast heavily edited - wanted to remove much of the substantive nature of the wood, reducing the strength of most of the lines and enhancing the marks of weathering
water at Marsh Lake taken July of 2019
I love the visual texture of the water and the sunlight glinting on the waves
the Yukon River, taken by my Grandfather in the 1940s... a view I know so well, the blocks of ice-jams created by the movement of the water during warm periods of the long winter... planes and shadows, texture on the river
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caribou crossing the Yukon River, a still shot I captured from a National Film Board of Canada video compilation of films taken by Yukon Residents in the 1930s
the moving image of this scene is amazing - the water flowing swiftly, the caribou visibly battling the current, their backs and antlers adding a flowing element above the water
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all of these images informed the collage below with the side of the boat and the water images printed and used along with strips of silk chiffon I painted with watercolour paint, burnt the edges and then waxed
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I love doing this kind of work, looking for connections in colour, texture, form
layering, working to create the feel of something, somewhere
the transparency of this piece alludes to the transient time of the river boats and the gold rush, and that what seemed strong and substantial wasn't after all and when their days were through the river flowed on
I didn't go about planning this work to have this message rather, I gathered images and samples that appealed, that seemed to work well together and once it was completed and I spent time considering and reflecting on what I'd done I began to draw meanings and inferences from what I was seeing
making connections, gaining understandings
I don't think it makes the work any less meaningful, that it didn't start out with that consciousness and only came to it later
things can be known without knowing, the work bringing forth what was already there
2 comments:
It's all about this intuition thing again... working with what is inside you but which doesn't fully reveal itself until the piece evolves. Too much planning can sometimes mean contrivance. Like you I am learning to work more intuitively and I love all the little adventures, curiosities and lightbulb moments (some small, some quite monumental) that I am encountering. I am also learning patience when I get stuck... and faith that the next step will show itself and smooth the way. Thank you for this story.. It is just so beautiful how it has all come together over time.
Yes, sometimes the story evolves itself as you tell it. Even in my organised, planned pieces, sometimes I find a detail that went in almost without conscious thought actually contributes something definite to the story I'm telling. I think that's one of the lovely things about this sort work that you pull together gradually as it comes..
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